How to get to San Francisco

(and leave your car in Santa Cruz—where there's no parking
problem)

The trip from Santa Cruz to San Francisco is
straightforward, involving only the Highway 17
Express and Caltrain, with only a single transfer at
the San Jose Diridon Station. The trip will take
between two and
three hours, depending on the time of
day, and whether you travel on a weekday or a weekend.
Most trips take about two and a half
hours.

The complete schedule is here. The total
fare from Santa Cruz is $14 (regular), or $7 (senior,
aged 65 or over), or $11.50 (senior, aged 62 to 64).

Buy your Caltrain ticket (within four zones) before
boarding the Caltrain. It can be purchased either
from the Caltrain ticket machine or at the counter in
the Station lobby.

Once you're in San Francisco, it's easy to get
anywhere in the city using the MUNI.
Muni operates approximately 80 routes throughout San
Francisco with stops within 2 blocks of 90% of all
residences in the city. For example, it's a 45-minute
ride on the N-Judah train from the
Caltrain Station to the
Ocean Beach at Judah, or you can walk north from the
Caltrain Station one long block to the AT&T Park,
or get to Candlestick Park via the
T-Third (to Gilman/Paul) and the
87 shuttle. A complete list
of all the MUNI buses and trains available from the
Caltrain Station is here.

The basic fare to ride on the MUNI is $2, or $0.75 if
you're 65 or over. (There is one exception: If you
want to ride a cable car, it's $6.00,
no matter how old you are.)
The new Clipper Card is
especially useful. The Clipper Card works on
MUNI, BART, Caltrain, VTA, SamTrans and several other
Bay Area carriers. (Note: Clipper Cards for
seniors—for which one must apply in
person—are available at many locations. The
location closest to Santa Cruz is the VTA Downtown Customer Service
Center in San Jose, at 1st & Santa
Clara.)

Consider taking your bicycle

The Highway 17 Express has space for three bicycles in
its front rack, and every Caltrain accepts bicycles,
with two of its cars specially equipped to carry a
total of up to 80 bicycles. Once in the City, you
can, for example, ride your bike across the Golden
Gate Bridge and back. For tips on taking your bicycle
on the Caltrain see
this page.

About our header photos

California cable car on Pine Street

The T-Third Light Rail—connects
with the Caltrain Station

An historic street car from Milan on the
Market Street F line

The N-Judah Light Rail—connects with
the Caltrain Station

How to get to the San Francisco Airport (SFO)

The trip to SFO from Santa
Cruz takes between two and
two and a half hours, depending on the time of day.
The total fare from Santa Cruz is $16.05 (regular), or
$10.05 (senior, 65 or over), or $13.55 (senior, 62 to
64).

Start out as if you were going to San Francisco,
taking the Highway 17 Express to
the San Jose Diridon Station. Then get on the
Caltrain (after purchasing your ticket—within
three zones, not four) and take the train to
Millbrae.

At the Millbrae Station, purchase a
BART ticket from the machine, and
board the BART train (one stop) to
San Bruno, where there is a timed
transfer to the train to SFO. The
BART fare is (alas) $4.05, taking a
total of 11 to 12 minutes to reach
SFO. BART trains
generally run every 15 minutes. On weekends (and
evenings) BART travels directly from
Millbrae to SFO,
with no need for the transfer at San
Bruno, cutting the time by about 5 minutes.